Rick Steves: 10 great places to challenge American assumptions

Posted!

A link has been posted to your Facebook feed.

For decades, television host and writer Rick Steves has shown viewers how to visit Europe. But the new edition of his book "Travel as a Political Act" has a loftier goal: changing the way they see the world. “If you travel thoughtfully, you find people who find different truths self-evident,” he says. “You have an opportunity to come home with the greatest souvenir, which is global perspective.” Istanbul, Turkey’s biggest city, straddles Europe and Asia, which makes it a fascinating place to visit, Steves says. “I consider Istanbul, along with Paris, London and Rome, one of the top four cities in Europe to see."
Dominic Arizona Bonuccelli

Visitors to Copenhagen learn that big government and high taxes might be an anathema in America, but not in Denmark. In return, citizens get a country with no hunger, nearly no homelessness, and universal education.
Dominic Arizona Bonuccelli

Although just a few miles apart, Jerusalem and Bethlehem are separated by a wall and generations of conflict. Visitors can begin to understand the complicated issue that likely will be in the headlines for years to come.
Trish Feaster

St. Petersburg, the most tourist-friendly city in Russia, is not only polished up for visitors, but also offers a window to understanding support for its president, Vladimir Putin.
Rick Steves' Europe/RickSteves.com

For decades, television host and writer Rick Steves has shown viewers how to visit Europe. But the new edition of his book Travel as a Political Act (Rick Steves, $19.99) has a loftier goal: changing the way they see the world. “If you travel thoughtfully, you find people who find different truths self-evident,” he says. “You have an opportunity to come home with the greatest souvenir, which is global perspective.” He shares sites that will challenge American assumptions with Larry Bleiberg for USA TODAY.

Jerusalem and Bethlehem

Although just a few miles apart, these two holy cities — one in Israel, the other in the Palestinian-controlled West Bank — are separated by a wall and generations of conflict. Steves urges travelers to visit both places. “It gives you a chance to actually understand two narratives of a complicated issue that will be in the headlines for the rest of our lives,” he says.goisrael.com and travelpalestine.ps

Amsterdam

Famous for its legal prostitution and marijuana “coffee shops,” Amsterdam is a place to see social experimentation in action, Steves says. “It’s a country where they don’t believe in legislating morality.” As a result, there’s less violence, more treatment for drug addicts, and a lower incarceration rate. “It humbles my ethnocentricity to go to a society to see that smart people are struggling with the same challenges we are, and they’re coming up with different solutions.” holland.com

Belfast

This city, which found peace after decades of civil war, is a success story. “You see a hopefulness in Belfast. It’s inspiring to go somewhere where you can have deep-seated sectarian problems, and overcome them,” Steves says. “The moderates have beaten the extremists.” It’s easy to learn the region’s history on popular “Troubles” tours that visit the neighborhoods where violence once reigned. discovernorthernireland.com

Cairo

Egypt’s capital city can be an urban jungle of conflicting ideas and perspectives, which is what makes it vital to visit, Steves says. “It’s important to go to a place that’s a cultural and religious and political leader in its part of the world.” Although Steves generally urges independent travel, he says it’s safest to tour with a local private guide here, which are easy and inexpensive to hire. egypt.travel

Copenhagen

Big government and high taxes might be anathema in America, but not in Denmark. “They very willingly pay high taxes because they have high expectations, and they get a good return for it.” Steves says. “There’s no hunger, nearly no homelessness, and everyone, regardless of how wealthy their parents are, has access to quality health care and education.” visitdenmark.com

Turkey’s biggest city straddles Europe and Asia, which makes it a fascinating place to visit, Steves says. “I consider Istanbul, along with Paris, London and Rome, one of the top four cities in Europe to see. You’re going to where East meets West, where the Middle Ages meets the modern world, and where secularism is meeting fundamentalism.” goturkeytourism.com

Havana

When Steves recently visited Cuba with his family, he found himself confronting the challenges and promise of a socialist society. “They have a system that isn’t conducive to prosperity, but I found the average worker in Cuba is better off than the average worker in Guatemala or Honduras,” he says. “This is not something that would work for me, but I was walking the streets in a very poor capital city with my kids and felt perfectly safe.” cubatravel.cu/en

St. Petersburg, Russia

The most tourist-friendly city in Russia is not only polished up for visitors, but also offers a window to understanding support for its polarizing president, Vladimir Putin. “They have a leader, that from their point of view, has the respect of the world,” Steves says. “They have stability and the freedom to travel. It’s good times on Russian terms.” russiatourism.ru/en/

Tehran

Relations have been strained with Iran for decades, and that’s why Steves says it’s important to visit. “These are not bad people, but they’re good people motivated by fear and love,” he says. “I had a woman come across the street to tell me, ‘We’re strong, united and we just don’t want our children to be raised like Britney Spears.’ We have to respect that.” Most visitors must come with an organized tour. itto.org

Washington, D.C.

Steves says although you learn a lot about your home country by traveling abroad and seeing it from a distance, it doesn’t substitute for visiting the nation’s capital. “If I go to Washington, D.C., I gain a better respect for my country,” he says. “As I walk down the National Mall and visit the memorials, I read the words of wisdom chipped into stone. I see that a society that enjoys good government and civil liberties and pluralism, doesn’t happen accidentally.” washington.org

Posted!

House of Sweden: Housing the embassies of Sweden and Iceland, this building hosts exhibitions and a spectacular waterfront view. From Gert Wingardh and Tomas Hansen with VOA Associates.
Patrik Gunnar Helin

Smithsonian Institution Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture: Designed by Robert Mills, this building has seen a lot of history - the Patent Office, a Civil War hospital, almost demolished and now a treasured landmark - yet remains vital.
Wikimedia Commons/AgnosticPreachersKid

CityCenterDC: This site was the home of D.C.'s concrete bunker of a convention center and has been transformed into the city’s answer to Rodeo Drive. The space opened in 2014 and was designed by Shalom Baranes and Norman Foster.
City Center

Washington National Cathedral: A true Gothic cathedral built over several decades. This is America's cathedral and all are welcome. Look for the moon rock in one the stained glass windows. From George Frederick Bodley and Henry Vaughan.
Wikimedia Commons/AgnosticPreachersKid

Dumbarton Oaks: Designed by William Hammond Dorsey and opening in 1801, Dumbarton Oaks includes a historic mansion, dazzling gardens and a small modern museum of pre-Columbian artifacts.
Wikimedia Commons/AgnosticPreachersKid

National Museum of African American History and Culture: The newest building on the National Mall from Adjaye Associates is more than just a building, it's a collection of artifacts that tells a complex, often difficult, but ultimately uplifting story.
Wikimedia Commons/Macfawlty

FDR Memorial: A major work by the great landscape designer Lawrence Halprin which took 22 years from plans to dedication, this area also includes many sculptures that bring the career of the 32nd president to life.
Stephan Fussan

Eastern Market: Adolff Cluss was one of Washington's most prolific 19th-century architects. This building still houses an active community market and is a great place to spend a Saturday.
Wikimedia Commons/AgnosticPreachersKid

Embassy of Finland: This Heikkinen-Komonen Architects building caused quite a stir when it opened - its architecture is a great departure from the typical embassy, a modern and open design that takes amazing advantage of its heavily wooded site.
Wikimedia Commons/Slowking4

Union Station: The iconic National Mall would not have been possible without the removal of train station and tracks to this location. This building designed by Daniel Burnham is "city beautiful" at its best.
Shutterstock

District Architecture Center: An award-winning modern storefront designed by W.S. Plager, Hickok Cole Architects and featuring great exhibitions about D.C. and with a beehive on the roof!
Hoachlander Davis

Embassy of Germany Chancery: One of the most underappreciated buildings in Washington, its modern design skillfully hides a rather large building by taking advantage of the sloping terrain. Its intricate façade is composed of layered grids of wood, metal and glass. Egon Eiermann, architect.
John Weiss

Paul Lawrence Dunbar Senior High School: While many schools in D.C. have undergone dramatic renovations in recent years, Dunbar High is emblematic of the fact that every neighborhood deserves great design. Renovation completed in 2014 by Perkins Eastman and Moody Nolan.
Gilbane Building Company

Metropolitan Community Church of Washington D.C.: One of the first entirely new structures in the country built for a gay and lesbian congregation, this building from Suzane Reatig Architecture was a harbinger of the gentrification of this changing neighborhood.
Suzane Reatig Architecture

Shaw Library: Part of a resurgence in library design around D.C., the Shaw Library opened in 2010 and has become a landmark in this rapidly changing part of the city. Davis Brody Bond, architect.
Tim Evanson

Vietnam Memorial: This is one of the most moving war memorials because of the way it directly engages the visitor. Maya Lin won the competition for this work while still in architecture school.
East Village Images/Shutterstock

The Cairo: D.C. has a height limit and this is the building that caused it. One of the first residential towers to employ steel frame construction, it was taller than most fire truck ladders could reach. This "moorish pile of bricks" was fashionable but then was in rough shape by the 1960s and now is a lovely Dupont Circle condo. Thomas Franklin Schneider, architect.
Justin A. Wilcox